THE INFLUENCE OF SUBMARINE CABLES
Island, thence to the Island of Guam, and
from there to the Island of Luzon.
A cable system from Vancouver via
the Aleutian Islands to Japan and the
Philippines has long been proposed, and
has many points, commercial and techni
cal, in its favor as a trans-Pacific route.
The true solution is thought to be the
early construction of both of these trans
Pacific cable lines, thereby furnishing,
first, a direct connection to the Alaskan
system, and by a later extension to the
Philippines a duplicate route for the pro
tection of the more southern line via
Hawaii. A short cable from Sitka to
Valdez would be one means of perfect
ing a junction with the Alaska land sys
tem.
The recent acquisition by the United
States of the island of Tutuila, and the
construction in Pago Pago Harbor of
a coaling station, makes it desirable to
join this advanced American station in the
southwestern Pacific to the Hawaiian Isl
ands by submarine cable.
This can probably be most readily ac
complished by connecting it directly to
Fiji, a station on the British-Pacific cable
route.
To further complete this proposed colo
nial telegraph system, it will be necessary
to connect the island of Porto Rico by
submarine cable to the United States, and,
although of greater length, a line direct
from New York to Porto Rico is sug
gested as offering many advantages. The
shortest line is not always the most ad
vantageous. For instance, Haiti is con
nected direct to New York City, instead
of to the coast of Florida, which would
be much nearer, and Bermuda is con
nected direct with Halifax, for the sole
object of exclusive British control under
all circumstances.
ESTIMATED COST OF PROPOSED
COLONIAL TELEGRAPH SYSTEM.
CABLES IN THE PACIFIC.
Trans-Pacific cable, San Francisco
via Hawaiian Islands, Midway
Island, and Island of Guam to
Luzon
........................
$12,ooo,000
Inter-island communication for the
Hawaiian group ...............
$15o,oo000
To complete the Inter-island tele
graph system of the Philippines..
250,000
For Alaska telegraph system, as al
ready authorized by Congress ...
450,000
To extend the Alaska telegraph sys
tem and to connect it to the
United States by direct cables,
and also for further extension to
the Philippines via the Aleutian
Islands, providing a duplicate
trans-Pacific route to the Philip
pines ........................
..
1, 0,000
For cable connections with Tutuila
Island coaling station at Pago
Pago Harbor .................
650,000
CABLES IN THE ATLANTIC.
Direct cable from the coast of the
United States to the island of
Porto Rico ....................
1,500,ooo
Total .....................
$25,000,000
Estimated cost of proposed Isth
mian Canal.................$200,000,000
Relative cost of two enterprises......... i to 8
This estimate, which is necessarily a
very general one, due to the great fluctua
tions in the price of materials, the inex
perience of American manufacturers, etc.,
shows that with an expenditure of $25,
ooo,ooo, or perhaps $30,000,000 at most,
the United States can have a telegraph sys
tem connecting all her possessions, and
placing each part of such possessions in
direct connection with the United States
by the best and most efficient means of
communication known.
For the expense of three or four first
class battleships, the United States can
provide herself with the most powerful
means known for extending and preserv
ing her commercial influence and for the
speedy pacification and civilization of the
people who have recently come under her
control, and can secure a strategic ad
vantage-military, naval, and political
which is necessary to her position as a
world power.
Submarine cables are now established
for colonial, political, and diplomatic rea
sons, as really as for their purely com
mercial purposes. Nor is actual state of
war of the country itself the only fear;
witness the present plight of France due